Overview (4)

Mini Bio (1)

Robin McLaurin Williams was born on July 21, 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, a great-great-grandson of Mississippi Governor and Senator Anselm J. McLaurin. His mother, Laurie McLaurin (née Janin), was a former model from Mississippi, and his father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, was a Ford Motor Company executive from Indiana. Williams had English, German, French, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish ancestry.

Robin briefly studied political science, before enrolling at Juilliard School to study theatre. After he left Juilliard, he performed in nightclubs where he was discovered for the role of Mork on an episode of Happy Days (1974) and the subsequent spin-off Mork & Mindy (1978). Williams' wild comic talent involved a great deal of improvisation, following in the footsteps of his idol Jonathan Winters. Williams has also proven to be an effective dramatic actor and received an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Good Will Hunting (1997).

On August 11, 2014, Robin Williams was found dead at his home in Tiburon, California USA, the victim of an apparent suicide, according to the Marin County Sheriff's Department. A 911 call was received at 11:55 AM PDT, firefighters and paramedics arrived at his home at 12:00 PM PDT, and he was pronounced dead at 12:02 PM PDT.

Trade Mark (8)

Wild improvised stream-of-consciousness comedy dialogue where he would do cultural references, impersonations and one-liners with rapid switching.

Unique skill at imitating voices

Frequently played offbeat and eccentric characters

Frequently played fathers or family men

Often played characters lacking in self-awareness

Often played men who have suffered a trauma or loss

Often played characters with mental instability and/or a deep capacity for violence (One Hour Photo, Insomnia)

Known for improvising dialogue

Trivia (104)

Moved to San Francisco, California when he was 16.

Studied acting briefly at Julliard under John Houseman. Houseman told him he was wasting his talent at Juilliard and he should strike out on his own and do stand-up comedy.

Resided with his family in San Francisco's Seacliff neighborhood for many years. before moving to San Francisco suburb of Tiburon in the 2000s, just across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County, California.

Was set to play Drew Barrymore's father in the film Home Fries (1998) and had the role during production, but pulled out of the part days before his scenes were to be shot.

October 1997: Ranked #63 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.

1997: Voted funniest man alive by Entertainment Weekly.

When he auditioned for the role of Mork from Ork on Happy Days (1974), producer Garry Marshall told him to sit down. Williams immediately sat on his head on the chair. Marshall hired him, saying that he was the only alien who auditioned.

During the making of Mork & Mindy (1978), Williams departed from the scripts and ad libbed so many times and so well, that the producers stop trying to make him stick to the script and deliberately left gaps in the later scripts leaving only "Mork can go off here" in those places so Robin could improvise.

Was a huge fan of the sport of Rugby Union, and in particular New Zealand All Black star Jonah Lomu, who flew to San Francisco and gifted him with a signed All Black jersey. On a recent visit to New Zealand they were reunited on national television, Williams humbly accepting another All Black jersey, except this time it had Jonah's number 11 on the back.

Attended Claremont Men's College, where he played soccer.

1998: Listed by Entertainment Weekly as one of the 25 Best Actors.

Was a huge fan of the comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969). Paying tribute after his death, Michael Palin said that Williams was "up there" with his all-time heroes, Spike Milligan and Peter Cook, and performing with him "would have been like being invited to play in a jazz band when you couldn't play an instrument".

Studied at Julliard with actor Christopher Reeve. The two remained good friends until Reeve's death in 2004.

After having won the Academy Award for Good Will Hunting (1997), he sent Peer Augustinski (who was his standard German dubbing voice) a little Oscar replica with a note: "Thank you for making me famous in Germany.".

2003: Won Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album for "Robin Williams - Live 2002".

1980: Hit #104 on the Billboard Singles Charts with "I Yam What I Yam" (Boardwalk 5701).

2003: Ranked #7 in Star TV's Top 10 Box Office Stars of the 1990s.

1996: He reached a unique milestone by having two of his films reach the $100-million mark in the United States exactly the same week: Jumanji (1995) and The Birdcage (1996).

Was voted "Least Likely to Succeed" by his fellow graduates at Larkspur.

Early in his career, he told a reporter that he was born in Scotland. His original press releases indeed listed Scotland as his place of birth. He admitted that he was "under the influence" at the time he said this. He was really born in Chicago.

He was voted the 50th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

One week after Christopher Reeve's tragic horseriding accident, Robin visited him in the hospital. However, he was dressed from head to toe in scrubs, spoke with a Russian accent, and had a surgical mask on. He was acting as if he was a real doctor and did a bunch of wacky antics. After he took off his mask, Reeve stated that, "That was the first time he laughed since the accident!".

When "Blame Canada", a song from South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999), was nominated for a Best Song Academy Award, it was Williams who performed the song at the ceremony because the actress who sang the song in the film, Mary Kay Bergman, had committed suicide a few months prior to the awards show.

Was an active supporter of the U.S. Democratic Party, he had been outspoken about his opposition to the war in Iraq. However, he became the most consistent entertainer of U.S. troops since the war began, leading some to dub him the new Bob Hope.

Had been seen in playing paintball at public reservations near his Northern California residences.

He was a very overweight child. As a result, nobody would play with him. He started talking in different voices to entertain himself.

Invented the curse word "Shazbot", first heard on the situation comedy Mork & Mindy (1978) (in which Mork says the expression during the opening credits). Later, it was used in an episode of The Simpsons (1989) (Treehouse of Horror VI) with the Production Code 3F04, which aired on 10/30/95. In 1998, it was used as a voice chat option in the very popular "Starsiege Tribes" game and was carried over into the sequels "Tribes 2" and "Tribes: Vengeance". Incidently, "shazbot, nano nano" also remain the last recorded words of the legendary former singer of AC/DC Bon Scott (1946-1980), still available on the album "Highway to Hell".

1993: Was turned down for a Best Actor in a Supporting Role Academy Award nomination in for his performance in Aladdin (1992), because he only voiced the Genie.

He liked computer games and video games.

Owned a home and vineyard in Northern California's St. Helena district, hence the quip, "I love the smell of Napa in the morning." Not-too-distant neighbors included football legend Joe Montana (Calistoga) and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola (Rutherford), both of whom run their own vineyards.

Williams and Robert De Niro were the last stars to see John Belushi alive, albeit on separate visits to Bungalow #3 of the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles that fateful day in March 1982.

Filed a lawsuit against Frank and Beans Productions, production company of a shelved movie called "A Couple of Dicks". Which was later given to Gold Circle Films and the title was changed to "Cop Out (2010)" Williams claimed that he received $6 million in "fixed compensation", meaning that he would receive the money whether the film was made or not. [October 2008]

Checked himself into rehab to be treated for alcoholism. He already overcome a drug and alcohol addiction in the 1980s. He left rehab in September 2006.

Recovered at the Cleveland Clinic after successful open heart surgery on March 13, 2009 to replace his aortic valve.

Was frequently called up by Steven Spielberg when he was filming Schindler's List (1993). He would put him on speaker phone so he could tell jokes to the cast and crew to cheer them up. He used his character in Aladdin (1992) most of the time.

During the course of recording the voice of Genie in Aladdin (1992), Robin improvised so much they had almost 16 hours of material. He also ad-libbed so many of his lines that the movie's script was turned down for a Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award nomination.

Was a huge fan of the "Legend of Zelda" series since the first game appeared in 1986, and even named his daughter Zelda, after the eponymous character. Both Robin and Zelda appeared in a commercial for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011).

Was the first choice for the role of Bob Wiley in What About Bob? (1991), but was forced to turn it down because he was finishing filming The Fisher King (1991), at the same exact time. The role went to Bill Murray instead.

Was declared dead at 12:02 PM on August 11, 2014, seven minutes after the call was received by 911 operators, and two minutes after paramedics arrived at his home in the unincorporated town of Tiburon, which is in Marin County, California, USA, just north of San Francisco. The cause was apparent suicide after a long bout with severe depression.

Upon his death, his wife, Susan Schneider said, "This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken. On behalf of Robin's family, we are asking for privacy during our time of profound grief. As he is remembered, it is our hope the focus will not be on Robin's death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions.".

On the night his death was announced to the United Kingdom on the BBC News Channel, BBC Three had just broadcast the Family Guy (1999) episode where Peter Griffin wishes that everyone was Robin Williams, is struck by lightening and then has the power that everyone he touches turns into Robin Williams.

Was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (suburban Detroit). He attended Detroit Country Day School until his senior year of high school when his father retired from the Ford Motor Company and moved the family to San Francisco, California.

Due to the seven feature films Robin shot in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1990s, he was made an Honorary Member of IATSE Local 16 in San Francisco.

A statement was released by his wife Susan Schneider, after his death, in which she said that Robin's sobriety was intact and that he was brave as he struggled with his own battles of depression, anxiety as well as early stages of Parkinson's Disease, which he was not yet ready to share publicly.

He was cremated after death and his ashes were scattered along the San Francisco Bay.

His final moments were spent at his seafront home overlooking San Francisco Bay (St. Thomas Way, Tiburon, California).

When his Inside the Actors Studio (1994) interview was being taped, a man in the audience had to be hospitalized after acquiring a hernia from laughing so hard.

ABC news ran the announcement about the family wanting their privacy to grieve on a webpage that also featured a link to a live stream of aerial footage of Williams' Home. This link was removed after a campaign by outraged Twitter users.

He was considered for the Genie in Aladdin (1992) from the scripting stage. Disney animators even modeled his face into the Genie's.

Though Robin Williams was right-handed, he batted and golfed left-handed ("Old Dogs", "The Crazy Ones").

From August 16-18, 2014, Disney honored Robin Williams by airing Aladdin on their three children's channels (Disney Channel on Saturday, Disney XD on Sunday, and Disney Junior on Sunday evening and Monday morning), twice on each channel. At the end of the movie, just before the credits, they put up an image that read, "In Memory of Robin Williams, who made us laugh." using Eric Goldberg's (the movie's animator) tribute to him as a backdrop.

Everyone has these two visions when they hold their child for the first time. The first is your child as an adult saying "I want to thank the Nobel Committee for this award." The other is "You want fries with that?".

A woman would never make a nuclear bomb. They would never make a weapon that kills, no, no. They'd make a weapon that makes you feel bad for a while.

About comic lines written by Mark Shaiman being removed for innuendo (i.e. "Chip 'n Dale are both strippers") the week before for his presenting of Best Animated Film at the 77th Academy Awards: For a while you get mad, then you get over it. They're afraid of saying Olive Oyl is anorexic. It tells you about the state of humor. It's strange to think: how afraid are you? We thought that they got the irony of it. I guess not.

You're only given one little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it.

They're talking about partial nuclear disarmament, which is also like talking about partial circumcision - you either go all the way or forget it.

Countering the complaint that the juiciest roles go to younger actors: They (the roles) may not be financially enriching, but personally enriching? Yes. You are no longer under pressure. You don't have to prove yourself on some levels, but you do have to [creatively] push yourself.

I started doing comedy because that was the only stage that I could find. It was the pure idea of being on stage. That was the only thing that interested me, along with learning the craft and working, and just being in productions with people.

[on his acting career]: All the new people you meet, it's pretty amazing. The vampire needs new blood. And there is still a lot to learn and there is always great stuff out there. Even mistakes can be wonderful.

Okra is the closest thing to nylon I've ever eaten. It's like they bred cotton with a green bean. Okra, tastes like snot. The more you cook it, the more it turns into string.

I believe I could do dance on ice, or play in a musical of Freud's life called "It's Your Mother" - or maybe one for the symbolists: "Jung at Heart". There's always the one about India: "The Gandhi Man Can".

[While accepting the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting (1997)] Most of all, I want to thank my father, up there, the man who when I said I wanted to be an actor, he said, "Wonderful. Just have a back-up profession like welding.".

Australians are basically English rednecks. If Darwin had landed in Australia, he would have gone: "I'm wrong".

I'd play the Riddler in the next Batman, although it'd be hard to top Heath Ledger as the villain, and I'm a little hairy for tights. Plus, the Batman films have screwed me twice before: years ago they offered me the Joker and then gave it to Jack Nicholson, then they offered me the Riddler and gave it to Jim Carrey.

[on entertaining the troops on USO tours] I enjoy it. I enjoy performing for heavily armed people. It's easier than going to Georgia.

There's so much to talk about. The fact that Donald Trump wants to see Obama's birth certificate. I want to see his hairline first.

I was once walking in an airport and a woman came up to me and said, "Be zany!". That'd be like walking up to Baryshikov and going, "Plie! Just do a plie! Do it! Do a releve right now! Lift my wife!".

I went to rehab in wine country just to keep my options open.

Men can't fake an orgasm, who wants to look that dumb, you know what I'm saying?

Stand-up is the place where you can do things that you could never do in public. Once you step on stage you're licensed to do that. It's an understood relationship. You walk on stage - it's your job.

[on Jonathan Winters] Jonathan taught me that the world is open for play, that everything and everybody is mockable, in a wonderful way.

Jonathan Winters was my mentor. I told him that and he said, "Please, I prefer idol".

[on working with Al Pacino on Insomnia (2002)] I loved working with Pacino. Al does this Method thing where before every take he roars like a lion. So my first day working with him I bleated like a goat: "What was that?!" "Hi Al, I'm here, it's just Robin, just playing." Playing scenes with him was a little surreal, because I was like, "I'm watching Al Pacino!" and then I'd realize I had to act, too. I loved talking to him off-set. He plays all these incredible characters, but he claims most of the time he just wants to be in the Village having coffee and discussing Aristotle. Having worked with Robert De Niro (on Awakenings (1990)) I was kind of prepared for the idea of someone who's that intense. (If I ever get to work with Robert Duvall, I'll have the entire Godfather collector's set. Except for Brando. But I got to meet Brando once, so I guess that qualifies.) But like Christopher Nolan, even though he's very focused, he's also prepared to try anything. At that time, Al was flying back and forth from L.A. because his twins were just born, so I think he was way beyond Method acting: he really wasn't getting any sleep. He was completely ragged, and that was perfect.

I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone.

Divorce is expensive. I used to joke they were going to call it "all the money", but they changed it to "alimony". It's ripping your heart out through your wallet.

The truth is, if anything, I'm probably addicted to laughter.

If women ran the world, we wouldn't have wars, just intense negotiations every 28 days.

You're only given a little spark of madness. If you lose that, you're nothing.

[on World's Greatest Dad (2009) being an "indictment of the modern grief industry", and asked if it's getting worse] Well, I think people want it. In a weird way, it's trying to keep hope alive.

[on if he does or doesn't share the film's "judgment on mawkish sentimentality"] Well, you just try and keep it in perspective; you have to remember the best and the worst. In America they really do mythologize people when they die.

[from his first appearance on "The Tonight Show", October 14, 1981] I was the only child on my block on Halloween to go, "Trick or trout!"..."Here comes that young Williams boy again. Better get some fish.".

[on Genesis] This is a group that pulled off the single most surprising lead singer swap in all of rock history. Their first great frontman Peter Gabriel decided to stop dressing like vegetables and little furry woodland creatures and went solo to shock his monkey. And instead of asking another steadily qualified singer or having a talent contest so Simon Cowell could go, "I'm sorry, darling, you suck!", no, they just looked to their brilliantly gifted drummer and said, "You! Collins! You Bob Hoskins lookalike! Get your ass up to the microphone and sing your bollocks off!". And so Phil did, and it was good, and the goodness became greatness.

It's amazing that medical science can develop a drug to give you an erection, but can't develop a drug to give you mental clarity.

Life's a tragedy to those who feel and a comedy to those that think. So it can be curse in that you find something funny in even the darkest thing.

Being a celebrity is like wearing a Mardi Gras head - although you're not floating! Obviously it's great that it can get you a table in a restaurant, but it can also get people following you into the men's room with a palm-cam.

The imagination functions on its own. I grew up as an only child, so the imagination was a necessity, like a survival mechanism.

[on who can run for office in American politics] We're frightening away people who have lived interesting lives, intelligent people who might have inhaled, who might have had different sexual experiences or orientations, but who are stone-cold brilliant.

I had my midlife crisis when I was about 30, so I got that over with. But when I hit 50, it was like, this is cool. It feels like the prime of your life, literally. Things are going great; you've come to the point where it's no longer a struggle. As Rodney Dangerfield said, "Why am I sweating? I own the club!" You're there, so you don't have to worry as much. And yet the object is to keep working, to find interesting parts, and obviously it's skewed more for men than women to find character parts at my age. And, hey, supporting parts are just as interesting as the lead.

My childhood was lonely. Both my parents were away a lot, working, and the maid basically raised me. And I think that's where a lot of my comedy comes from. Not only was the maid very funny and witty, but when my mother came home I'd use humor to try and get her attention. If I made mommy laugh, then maybe everything would be all right. I think that's where it all started.

[on the first film to make a big impression on him] That was 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). I saw it at the Cinerama with my parents and was totally slack-jawed. With that sort of cinema and that film, you don't ever need to take acid! It knocked me out. I love science fiction and Kubrick. That whole experience was so surreal.

Cocaine is nothing new; it's been part of Hollywood from the outset. It's the pressure, I think. People use it to relieve that, and for me it was about getting numb and forgetting. I did coke so I wouldn't have to talk to anyone. For me it was a true sedative, a way to pull back from the world.

I don't know how much value I have in this universe, but I do know that I've made a few people happier than they would have been without me, and as long as I know that, I'm as rich as I ever need to be.